Amateur radio

Amateur Radio, also called "ham radio", is a hobby followed by people in most countries of the world, using internationally coordinated, specifically designated, frequency bands. Each country or jurisdiction separately allocates the frequencies and licenses its operators to use specific power levels or modes of communication. They are issued a personal callsign that has letters reflecting their country's international callsign area, a number reflecting the state or region, and letters that particularize the callsign to them. See examples below.

Operators set up their stations normally in their homes, and use antenna systems suitable for their domestic situation. This may limit the frequency bands on which they can operate, as longer wavelength transmissions normally require larger antenna. Also, larger aerial arrays are needed to achieve higher transmission gain on higher frequencies. Vehicle mounted radios and antennas can also be used.

The portable and "can-do" nature of Amateur Radio has meant that Amateurs have often been first-responders during or just after major disasters, establishing links using procedures tested during regular "field days" or emergency exercises.

The International Space Station has an extensive suite of Amateur Radio equipment, as did the Russian MIR spacecraft. Most cosmonauts and astronauts are licensed operators. This is perhaps a result of the "technological tinkering" mindset that these people have.

Frequency bands and modes of operation include:

High Frequency (short-wave) through to microwave frequencies;

voice (referred to by ham operators as "phone")

CW (Morse code)

facsimile (fax over radio)

television - slow-scan (similar to fax) and fast-scan (as for broadcast TV)

Amateur Radio and Christianity

Until the widespread advent of telephone systems and the Internet in under-developed countries, Amateur Radio was widely used by missionary groups to communicate with people across the world. The missionaries operated their radios to talk to their home organisations and pass information to family members.

Etiquette in the Amateur Radio Fraternity

When amateur radio operators make contact with other amateurs they often mail them "QSL contact cards" (that is, postcards) with a country, state, province, or area. In areas where there were very few amateur operators, these can be highly prized. Among amateur Radio operators in developed countries, those from less populated regions are a very welcome and highly prized group of people, often supported with donations to support their ability to provide the much sought after QSL card, or through having someone manage their QSL card distribution. The usual form of exchange is for the Amateur to send a "green stamp" (a US$1 bill) in exchange for the QSL card. This pays for the mailing of the card, and normally leaves a little besides as a donation.